The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University.
The two land-grant universities are less than eight miles (13 km) apart on the rural Palouse in the Inland Northwest; Idaho's campus in Moscow is nearly on the Idaho–Washington border, and Washington State's campus is directly west in Pullman, linked by Washington State Route 270 and the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. The two schools' most prominent rivalry was in football, but in later years it has shifted to men's basketball.
Sport | College football |
---|---|
First meeting | November 17, 1894 130 years ago WSC, 10–0 |
Latest meeting | September 2, 2023 Washington State, 42-32 |
Next meeting | August 30, 2025 |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 92 |
All-time series | Washington State leads, 73–16–3 (.810) |
Largest victory | Washington State, 84–27 (1975) |
Longest win streak | Washington State, 20 (1928–1949) |
Longest unbeaten streak | Washington State, 26 (1926–1953) |
Current win streak | Washington State, 10 (2001–present) |
The first game was played 130 years ago in November 1894 and resulted in a win for Washington State. The game in 1898 was not played because Idaho had an ineligible ringer from Lapwai, David McFarland, a recent All-American from Carlisle. [1] [2] [3] The Vandals' first-ever forward pass was attempted against the Cougars in 1907: it was completed for a touchdown from a drop-kick formation in the fourth quarter and led to a 5–4 victory. [4]
Washington State has dominated the local rivalry, holding a 73–16–3 (.810) lead; the record since 1926 is even more dominant, with a 58–5–2 (.908) advantage for the Cougars. The longest winning streak for Idaho was three games (1923–25), and has only five victories since that three-peat (1954, 1964, 1965, 1999, & 2000) and two ties (1927, 1950) to offset the 58 losses.
The games were skipped in 1969 and 1971, notably for Idaho as the 1971 Vandals posted one of the best records (8–3) in school history, while WSU was 4–7. The rivalry became increasingly one-sided as WSU dominated in the 1970s (except for 1974) and the original series ended, following the 1978 game. [5] From 1979 to 1997, the game was played just twice (1982, 1989) until the 10-year renewal from 1998–2007. Since their last wins in 1999 and 2000, Idaho has been physically outmatched in most of the ten games; the game has been played three times since 2007, in 2013, 2016, and 2022.
As two schools are in close proximity, there was a tradition called Walkathon from 1938 to 1968; a week following the game, students of the losing school walked from their campus to the winners', then received rides back home from the winning side. This has frequently been misreported as students walking back to their own campus immediately following the game. In 1954, the walk made national news when about 2,000 students from Washington State College made the trek east from Pullman to Moscow after the Cougars lost to Idaho for the first time in 29 years. [6] [7] [8] [9]
In a span of less than five months, from November 1969 to April 1970, both schools' aged wooden stadiums (Idaho's Neale Stadium and WSU's Rogers Field) burned down due to suspected arson. The WSU–Idaho game in 1970 was dubbed the Displaced Bowl, which was held in Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane on September 19. The Cougars won the game (their only win that season), as well as the next ten against the Vandals. [10] This was the first in the rivalry played on AstroTurf, which was new to Joe Albi that season.
In 1978, the NCAA split Division I football in two: I-A (now FBS) and I-AA (now FCS). Washington State was in Division I-A as part of the Pac-10 Conference and Idaho downgraded to I-AA as part of the Big Sky Conference, whose other football members moved up from Division II. In the late 1970s, I-A football programs were allowed 50% more scholarships and twice as many assistant coaches as I-AA teams. [5] During the years they were in different divisions, the schools met only twice (1982 in Spokane and 1989 in Pullman). In 1996, Idaho moved back up to Division I-A in the Big West Conference, and Idaho and WSU rekindled their century-old rivalry. Since the rivalry was reinstated in 1998, every game has been played at Martin Stadium in Pullman, except for the matchup in 2003, which was played at Seattle's Seahawks Stadium. The last game played on the Idaho side of the border was 58 years ago in 1966, a come-from-behind 14–7 Cougar victory on a very muddy field to prevent a Vandal three-peat. [11] [12]
After ten years of the renewed rivalry, Vandal head coach Robb Akey, previously WSU's defensive coordinator, said in 2008 that he preferred the game not be played every year, instead saying he would prefer it as a "once-in-a-while thing." [13] Only one game was played during Akey's tenure, in his first season in 2007, and he was fired in October 2012. [14] The meeting in 2013 on September 21 was a one-year revival, [15] and WSU won 56–6 in 2016. Because of the difficulty of scheduling as an isolated FBS independent, Idaho returned to FCS and the Big Sky in 2018. There was a meeting scheduled for 2020, but it was canceled due to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; the teams played next in 2022, a 24–17 Cougar win. Future meetings are currently scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029. [16]
Idaho victories | Washington State victories | Tie games |
|
Since 1919
Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ralph Hutchinson | Idaho | 1 | 1919 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Thomas Kelley | Idaho | 2 | 1920–1921 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
Matty Mathews | Idaho | 4 | 1922–1925 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 |
Charles Erb | Idaho | 3 | 1926–1928 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .167 |
Leo Calland | Idaho | 6 | 1929–1934 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 |
Ted Bank | Idaho | 6 | 1935–1940 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 |
Francis Schmidt | Idaho | 2 | 1941–1942 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
Babe Brown | Idaho | 3 | 1945–1946 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Dixie Howell | Idaho | 4 | 1947–1950 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .125 |
Babe Curfman | Idaho | 3 | 1951–1953 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Skip Stahley | Idaho | 8 | 1954–1961 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 |
Dee Andros | Idaho | 3 | 1962–1964 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 |
Steve Musseau | Idaho | 3 | 1965–1967 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 |
Y C McNease | Idaho | 1 | 1968–1969 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Don Robbins | Idaho | 3 | 1970–1973 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Ed Troxel | Idaho | 4 | 1974–1977 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 |
Jerry Davitch | Idaho | 1 | 1978–1981 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Dennis Erickson (a) | Idaho | 1 | 1982–1985 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Keith Gilbertson | Idaho | 0 | 1986–1988 | ||||
John L. Smith | Idaho | 1 | 1989–1994 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Chris Tormey | Idaho | 2 | 1995–1999 | 1 | 1 | .500 | |
Tom Cable | Idaho | 4 | 2000–2003 | 1 | 3 | .250 | |
Nick Holt | Idaho | 2 | 2004–2005 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |
Dennis Erickson (b) | Idaho | 1 | 2006 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
Robb Akey | Idaho | 1 | 2007–2012 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
Paul Petrino | Idaho | 2 | 2013–2021 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |
Jason Eck | Idaho | 1 | 2022– | 0 | 1 | .000 |
Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gus Welch | Washington State | 4 | 1919–1922 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Albert Exendine | Washington State | 3 | 1923–1925 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 |
Babe Hollingbery | Washington State | 17 | 1926–1942 | 16 | 0 | 1 | .971 |
Phil Sarboe | Washington State | 6 | 1945–1949 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Forest Evashevski | Washington State | 2 | 1950–1951 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .750 |
Al Kircher | Washington State | 4 | 1952–1955 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .750 |
Jim Sutherland | Washington State | 8 | 1956–1963 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Bert Clark | Washington State | 4 | 1964–1967 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 |
Jim Sweeney | Washington State | 6 | 1968–1975 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Jackie Sherrill | Washington State | 1 | 1976 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Warren Powers | Washington State | 1 | 1977 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Jim Walden | Washington State | 2 | 1978–1986 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
Dennis Erickson | Washington State | 0 | 1987–1988 | ||||
Mike Price | Washington State | 6 | 1989–2002 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 |
Bill Doba | Washington State | 5 | 2003–2007 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | |
Paul Wulff | Washington State | 0 | 2008–2011 | ||||
Mike Leach | Washington State | 2 | 2012–2019 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | |
Nick Rolovich | Washington State | 0 | 2020–2021 | ||||
Jake Dickert | Washington State | 1 | 2021– | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
Sport | College basketball |
---|---|
First meeting | January 13, 1906 118 years ago Washington State, 28–11 |
Latest meeting | November 11, 2024 Washington State, 90–67, in Pullman |
Next meeting | TBD |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 279 |
All-time series | Washington State leads, 169–110 (.606) |
Largest victory | Washington State, 109–61 (November 18, 2021) |
Longest win streak | Washington State, 12 (1915–1917) |
Current win streak | Washington State, 6 (2018–present) |
Although the Battle of the Palouse in football waned by the 1980s, Idaho and Washington State men's basketball teams have played each other annually since 1906 in a series that continues. [22] [23] [24] From 1922 through the 1958–59 season, both were members of the Pacific Coast Conference, and both were independents for the next several years after it disbanded. [25] [26] Four games per season were played in these years, sometimes five; during the Gus Johnson season of 1962–63, Idaho won four of five.
Washington State has a 168–110 (.604) lead in the series through the November 2023 game in Pullman, which the Cougars won 84–59.Idaho had taken three of the previous four; the Vandals' win in December 2014 was their first over the Cougars since 2002 and the first in Pullman since 1989. [22] [27]
The rivalry in basketball reached its peak in the early 1980s, when alumnus Don Monson was Idaho's head coach and WSU was led by George Raveling. [28] [29] [30] [31] The game in early December 1982 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow established a new attendance record of 11,000 for an Idaho home game; the Vandals won in overtime for their third straight win over the Cougars and 37th consecutive win at home. [32] [33] [34] [35] Idaho was coming off a 27–3 season in 1982 in which it was ranked in the top ten and reached the Sweet Sixteen (and Monson was named Kodak coach of the year). The Cougars went on to finish second in the Pac-10 in the 1983 regular season, [36] and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, falling to #1 seed Virginia in Boise to finish at 26–6. [37] Both coaches left at the end of the season; Monson for Oregon and Raveling for Iowa.
Since 1950: Washington State leads, 76–49 (.608)
Idaho victories | Washington State victories |
|
The "Battle of the Palouse" is also contested in men's and women's basketball, [39] women's volleyball, [40] and women's soccer. [41]
In women's basketball, WSU leads at 26–13 (.667); the most recent meeting was sixteen years ago in December 2008, a 53–50 Cougar win in Moscow. [42] In soccer, Idaho began its program in 1998 and the teams first met in 1999. They have played twelve times, most recently in 2015, and the Cougars have won eleven straight; the sole Vandal victory came in 1999. [43]
In volleyball, Washington State leads the series 44–21 (.677) through 2019. [44] [45] The series started 48 years ago in 1976, and they often met multiple times per season in the first decade. In recent years, the series has been played as part of invitational tournaments hosted by the schools: [45] [46] Since 2000, WSU leads 11–7 (.611):
Idaho victories | Washington State victories |
|
Source: [44]
In baseball, the rivalry was at its strongest in the 1960s, when both made multiple appearances in the NCAA postseason. Idaho discontinued its program 44 years ago, after the 1980 season. [47] The Vandals won the final meeting in the series in late April to end the Cougars' 13-year unbeaten streak at 42 games (forty wins and two ties due to darkness). [48] [49] [50] [51] [52]
Boxing was also part of the rivalry as both had prominent national programs: Washington State won the national title in 1937 and Idaho took three (1940, 1941, 1950), the last shared with Gonzaga. In a UI–WSC dual meet in 1950, over five thousand attended at the Vandals' Memorial Gym. [53] [54] The sport was dropped by Idaho in 1954, [55] [56] and discontinued by the NCAA after 1960. [57]
The Washington State Cougars are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program comprises ten women's sports and seven men's intercollegiate sports, and also offers various intramural sports.
Rogers Field was an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It was the home venue of the WSU Cougars football and track teams until severely damaged by a fire in April 1970. Partially demolished in early 1971, Rogers Field was replaced by the concrete Martin Stadium, which was built on the same site and opened in 1972.
Robert B. Clark Jr. was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Washington State University for four seasons, from 1964 to 1967.
Neale Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Opened 87 years ago in 1937 for college football, it was used for over three decades, through the 1968 football season; the track team moved to the venue in the late 1940s.
The Idaho Vandals are the college football team that represents the University of Idaho and plays its home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho. Idaho is a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Vandals are coached by Jason Eck.
The 1975 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. In their eighth season under head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record (0–7 in Pac-8, last) and were outscored 295 to 262.
The 1955 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State College during the 1955 college football season. In his fourth and final year, head coach Al Kircher led the team to a 1–7–2 record,1–5–1 in the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). They played their three home games on campus at Rogers Field in Pullman.
The 1959 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University as an independent during the 1959 college football season. In their fourth season under head coach Jim Sutherland, the Cougars compiled a 6–4 record and outscored their opponents 177 to 121.
The 1968 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. In their first season under head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 3–6–1 record, and outscored their opponents 189 to 188. The final two games were shutout victories.
The 1979 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second season under head coach Jim Walden, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record, and were outscored 366 to 241.
The 1970 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho as a member of Big Sky Conference during the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach Don Robbins. Without a usable stadium on their Moscow campus for a second year, they played their home games at Rogers Field at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington.
The 1952 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1952 college football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach Raymond A. Curfman and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with one game in Boise at old Bronco Stadium at Boise Junior College.
The 1937 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1937 college football season. The Vandals were led by third-year head coach Ted Bank, and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus in Moscow at the new Neale Stadium, with one in Boise at Public School Field.
The 1969 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach Y C McNease and played in the Big Sky Conference. After two seasons in the College Division, Idaho returned to the University Division this year.
The 1959 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1959 college football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Skip Stahley, the Vandals were an independent in the NCAA's University Division and had a 1–9 record. Two home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with one in Boise at old Bronco Stadium at Boise Junior College.
The 1951 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1951 college football season. Led by first-year head coach Raymond A. Curfman, the Vandals were 2–7. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with one game in Boise at old Bronco Stadium at Boise Junior College and another at Memorial Stadium in Spokane, Washington.
The 1950 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1950 college football season. The Vandals were led by fourth-year head coach Dixie Howell and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with one game in Boise at old Bronco Stadium at Boise Junior College, the season opener at the new venue.
The 1946 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1946 college football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach James A. Brown and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with none held in Boise this season.
The 1945 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1945 college football season. The Vandals were led by first-year head coach James A. Brown and were members of the Pacific Coast Conference. Home games were played on campus at Neale Stadium in Moscow, with none held in Boise this season.
The 1975–76 Washington State Cougars men's basketball team represented Washington State University for the 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by fourth-year head coach George Raveling, the Cougars were members of the Pacific-8 Conference and played their home games on campus at the Performing Arts Coliseum in Pullman, Washington.